Harness-machine



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

O. J. COOPER.

4 HARNESS MACHINE.

No. 485,260. Patented Nov. 1, 1892.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2* C. J. COOPER.

HARNESS MAGHINE.

Patented Nov. 1, 1-892.

(No Model.)

42 25 @Z-i. X1 i WWW/Ii mini Dam mks c0. PHOTO-LYN WA 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J. COOPER, OF MOLINE, ILLINOIS.

HARNESS-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 485,260, dated November 1, 1892.

Application filed June 15, 1891. Serial No. 396,277. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES J. COOPER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Moline, in the county of Rock Island and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Leather Stretching and Folding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a machine for stretching and folding leather, and is particularly adapted for use in the manufacture of certain parts of harnesses, such as the breastcollars, breeching, belly-bands, neck-straps, brow-bands, and the like, and which are usually termed folds.

I-Ieretofore only the finest harnesses have been provided with parts such as above mentioned having beaded and filled edges or margins. The reason of this limited use has probably been the fact that this work has heretofore, so far as I am aware, been done by hand and only by skilled workmen. The hand method, in addition to being very slow and expensive, is further unsatisfactory and ineificient because it is impossible by hand to take all of the stretch out of the leather and to perfectly mold or finish the edges, and also exceedingly difficult, even with the greatest care, to make the finished part with straight edges.

My machine is designed and intended and will in use produce parts such as above described with perfectly-finished rolled or beaded margins ready to receive fillings, take all of the stretch out of the leather, and form the part perfectly straight throughout its length when desired, the leather being so worked and formed under such pressure that when it dries after having been brought to shape it retains permanently the set or form given it by the machine.

My machine comprises in the preferred construction which I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings a suitable stand or frame, a bed-plate, folding-blades, and a form, the bed-plate being capable of a vertical movement and the folding-blades, one or both, of a lateral movement, which thus permit the blank to be applied to the form and the latter to be secured in place upon the bed-plate and readily removed therefrom when the folding is completed. I also employ, by preferonce, a clamping-bar to prevent the leather enlarged View of some of the parts shown in Fig. 5, and Fig. 5 is a detail view in crosssection of the fold.

The machine which is shownin the accompanying drawings has a frame or stand the ends of which are marked 6.

7 is a bed-plate,which is vertically movable in ways formed in the table 8.

9 represents a bar, which is rigidly connected by means of the rods 10 with the bed plate.

11 are heavy coiled springs, which are secured at their upper ends to the table 8 and at their lower ends to the bar 9 and exert a constant tendency to maintain the bed-plate atthe upper limit of its movement. The bedplate may be seated directly on springs. The bed-plate is normally flush with thesurface of the table 8. In order to carry the bedplate down to permit of the material being released, I employ a foot-treadle 12, connected by means of the lever 13 with the bar 9.

14 represents the folding-blades, which are flat plates, preferably of steel, and movable in suitable ways or guides over the table 8. These blades have lbngitudinal grooves 1 L on their lower surfaces to provide the beveled folding-lips 14! along their margins. 15 represents the form, which in the present instance is a thin fiat strip of metal having its edges flanged, as at 15*. The width of this form will correspond approximately to the width of the part which is to be made over it, and the distance between its flanges 15 will be slightly greater than the distance between the folding-lips 14 of the folding-blades when they nearest approach each other. One of these blades may be stationary and the other moved up to it in order to perform the folding; but, as shown in the drawings, both of the blades are laterally movable. As shown, these blades are provided with slots 16, into which project pins 17, eccentrically fixed to ends of less width than their bodies.

the gears or gear-segments 18. These gears" have spur-teetl1,which enmesh with rack-feet h 19, which may be formed on a singleslotted bar 20. This bar has on its lower surface at one end rack-teeth 21, which enmesh with gear 22, mounted on a shaft 23, which may be turned by the crank 24 or any convenient power. A clamping-bar 25 is pivoted at one end of the machine. This bar will be of approximately the length of the bed-plate and is of T form. V

In operation the blank, composed of a strip of leather of sufficient size and proper shape to produce the part desired, is laid on the bedplate and the form is then laid on the blank, the margins "of the latter projecting above the flanged edges of the form. I have shown the bed-plate provided with perforations, to which pins 25 are applied, these pins being adapted to receive between them the ends of the form and to prevent lateral movement thereof. The ends of the form are: preferably taperedthat is, they are of less width than the body of the form, and this for the reason that ordinarily the parts which will be pro duced upon the machine have when finished the form is in place upon the bed-plate the clamping bar is letdown and, if desired, locked, and then by operating the crank 24 the rack-bars are moved endwise, thus turning the gear-segments, which, through their pins working in the slots of the blades, cause the latter to approximate or move toward each other. In this movement the margins of the leather are engaged by the folding-lips 14$ of the blades, and the first action is to pinch or press them securely down over the raised edges or flanges of the form. As the movingpressure of the blades continues the leather is stretched transversely, and by properly adjusting the spring-tension this pressure may be so great as to, take substantially all of the stretch out of the stock. As the jaws near the completion of their movement their folding beads or lips force the leather down over the flanged edges of the form, and when the folding-lips have passed over such flanges the springs will carry the bedlate upward, and in this movement the it per edges of the flanges 15 are carried above the plane of the lower edges of the folding-lips 14:. The result of this movement is to form upon the edges of the blank 26 the tubular marginal beads 26. The foot-treadle is then depressed and the form removed and withdrawn from the leather. A suitable filling-such as a wire, leather, or cordof sufficient size to fill the hollow of the tubular beads is then applied, and then a layer of leather 27 is placed between said marginal beads and stitched, its upper surface being, if desired,fiush with the upper surface of the marginal beads.

In the usual course of manufacture thelayer 27 will be of greater length than the part to which it is secured, and its ends, after being After passed through a ring or a bar of a buckle, will be returned and inclosed within the folded end of the former and stitched. The product is a harness-fold in which the stretch is all taken from the leather, having the edges perfectly finished and presenting a better appearance than the finest hand-work and which can be made perfectly straight throughoutits length, if desired. Of course parts having curved edges might be produced with this machine by changing the configuration of the blades and form.

Itwill be understood that my invention 1s not confined to the details of construction of the machine, as these may be varied within wide limits without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

The particular form whichlhave described is adapted to the production of a harnessstrap having hollow beaded edges; but this form may be of any shape in cross-sectlon. One or both of the flanges thereof may be omitted, in which case the resulting product would be a fold having one or both of the edges flat, and if the form have angular or fluted flanges the marginal bead of the fold would be of corresponding cross-section. I do 7 not limit my invention, therefore, to any particular form.

Of course the machine is adapted for use in making folds of varying length, and in making short straps it may be found expedient to modify the form-for example, by mounting a number of forms on a single bar, so as to make them convenient to handle.

Instead of using the springs for yieldingly supporting the bed it might be positively actuated. r

I claim- 1. In a machine for making harness-straps, the combination, with a horizontal verticallymovable bed-plate on which the leather is to be placed, of afiat form of the shape desired to be placed upon the leather and over which it is to be folded, laterally-movable folding and stretching blades adapted to engage the margins of the leather and by their continued movement toward each other to press the leather over the margins of the form, said bed-plate being yieldingly sustained, whereby it may be depressed by the folding action of the jaws to accommodate itself thereto, means, substantially as described, for positively moving the bed-plate, and independent means for moving the blades, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for stretching and folding leather, the combination, with a bed-plate and from each other and means for moving edges and folding-blades having grooves in said blades, comprising eccentricsandalever their lower surfaces and marginal foldings for moving said eccentrics, substantially as lips, substantially as described.

described. CHARLES J. COOPER. 5 4. In a machine for stretching and folding Witnesses:

leather, the combination, with a suitable bed- HERBERT W. COOPER,

plate, of a form having flanged marginal JOHN D. JOHNSON. 

